The present invention relates to the field of knot-tying devices for fly fishing. More particularly, the invention is directed to a quicker, easier, and improved device and method for facilitating the tying of a blood knot, barrel knot, and allied knots utilized for splicing and joining the free extremities of lines and leaders for fly fishing.
Fly fishing is a sportsman's craft which demands a considerable amount of skill, not only in casting a fly line, but also in connecting the fly to the fly line via the leader material. Tying a fishing line knot to a fishing attachment is frequently a difficult and tedious task, aggravated by cold weather and tenuous physical settings in which the fisherman must operate his or her craft. Plastic monofilament fishing line is commonly used today, which is a very fine and translucent material frequently hard to see and difficult to manipulate.
A leader line or leader in a fly fishing setup attaches the fly line to the fly. The fly line is big and thick; the fly is delicate and small. Therefore, the materials comprising the leader line or leader must weigh little to not overpower the fly. The leader is comprised of butt, taper and tippet sections, in decreasing size from butt end (at the fly line) to tippet end (at the fly). The leader portion of the fly fishing setup is constructed of nylon monofilament, flourocarbon, thermoplastic, polyethylene or other analogous material, attached to the fly line at its butt end via a nail knot or other allied knot tapering down to the leader's smaller or tippet end at its point of attachment to the fly. A knot in the leader line or leader material is tied by joining together the tag or free end of the leader closest to the butt (the “taper tag end”) with the tag end closest to the tippet (the “tippet tag end”). A fisherman may change flies often, cutting off and replacing tippet. Consequently, the leader may be composed of one or more knots, principally barrel or blood knots, by which an experienced fly fisherman may alter the length as well the diameter of the leader throughout the length to accommodate the fly.
To the experienced fly fisherman, the makeup of the leader depends on a number of factors, including: the size and configuration of the fly, the size of the fish the fisherman expects to catch, and the conditions of the water and wind in which the fisherman will cast his or her line. Some fishermen utilize a leader that has a true taper, consisting of one segment of line having a gradual change in diameter from the butt end to the tippet end without any break in the leader material; or a leader that may consist of multiple lengths of varying diameter leader material tied together to construct this change in diameter from the butt end to the tippet end. This latter alternative leader, the knotted leader, enables the fisherman to construct a leader to the necessary requirements for the specific fishing situation. During the course of fly fishing, a fly fisherman can expect to replace the tippet, or end section, of the leader if it breaks or when a fly needs to be replaced. At some point, therefore, the fisherman can expect to need to lengthen the leader by adding more tippet, necessitating a knot in the leader.
The leader knot, and particularly the blood knot, is difficult to tie. Devices for aiding a fisherman in tying knots such as the blood knot to the leader material are well known in the industry. However, a quicker and easier means for tying such knots and extending the leader is desired. A device that would “lock in” the ends of the leaders and enable them to be easily manipulated by the fisherman with limited or inhibited dexterity would be an asset to such a fisherman. Prior devices have tried to address these issues, but only in an awkward manner, requiring devices with multiple movable parts for complicated manipulation by the fisherman. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to minimize the difficulty of manually joining two pieces of leader material (i.e., two leaders) together by means of a blood knot, barrel knot, or allied knot.
Not only are these devices difficult to manipulate, they are not buoyant in water; and such devices, as well as much of the fly fisherman's equipment, are always subject to potential loss when fishing. Prior knot-tying devices are not lightweight for easy transportation, do not possess a slim design for easy portability, and need considerable improvement in weight and strength, again, for portability as well as durability. Therefore, the field of prior devices to date are not self-contained; the functioning parts being susceptible to loss or disassembly, are not built in a slim design, are not buoyant in water, are not easily and efficiently manipulated, are generally of a size inconvenient for size and portability, and have a weight and strength that are either insufficient or overdone for their task.
The present invention consists of one movable part and a simple design made of essentially two materials. Accordingly, another object of the present invention is to provide a simple device, not costly to manufacture.
The present invention is a knot-tying device providing a self-contained unit where all parts are joined as a single entity, in a rectangular, “credit-card type” size and design, constructed of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pre-expanded foam or other extremely buoyant material, built in a small, easily stored, and quickly manipulated construction; and built utilizing such rigid, lightweight material. By using the credit-card size design, the present invention is small, convenient to store, and easily manipulated. The present invention is made of rigid, lightweight material, such as the PVC pre-expanded foam. Another object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a knot-tying device which is lightweight, durable, easy to use and carry/store, of slim construction, with few movable parts, which does not sink in water, and which stands up to vigorous use. Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved fisherman's knot-tying device for use in tying knots to leader material in a leader.
Related art provides information regarding fly-tying devices, as examples: U.S. Pat. No. 2,825,592 to Semple, U.S. Pat. No. 3,787,081 to Macy, U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,025 to Dennison, U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,833 to Wardall, U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,232 to Broberg, U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,295 to Spencer and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,690,369 and 5,690,370 to Steck, III, and two items on the market, “Tru-Blood Knot Tyer”™ and the “Orvis EZ Knot Tool”. The references cited as examples of the prior or related art taken alone or in combination fail to show, describe, or suggest the present invention. The present invention as disclosed and claimed hereby provides distinct and useful advantages not previously known in this field of knot-tying devices for fly fishing. While providing for some means for the tying of fishing knots, none of the related art patents provide the features of a swivel-disc with a slot within a rectangular card body, elements found in the present invention.
While the Macy, Dennison, Spencer, and '369 to Steck III patents provide for a rotating function, none of this related art supplies the feature of one movable part of a swivel-disc element in order to facilitate threading of the separate leader lines. The patents to Semple and Wardall and the two cited marketed devices require hand threading of the leader lines or hand rotation or twirling of the entire device and have no rotating element or function to form the knot. The patent to Wardall provides for an entirely different means for facilitating the tying of flies: an opening between cooperative plates, thereby having a function, manner, and features totally distinguishable from the present invention. As well, the patents to Macy, Spencer, Dennison, Wardall, Semple, and '369 and '370 to Steck III, utilize U-shaped cooperative plates and posts or pins, providing the manner in which leader lines are tied in these respective related art inventions. The patents to Macy, Dennison, Spencer, and Steck III, and the Tru-Blood Knot Tyer™ device provide, as well, coaxial pivot means or slits for manipulating the leader lines. Finally, the patents to Macy, Dennison, Spencer, and '369 to Steck III all function to produce blood knots utilizing a rotating frame means, with posts and/or winders not found in the present invention.
While all of the aforementioned related art inventions require some user hand-manipulation in order to tie a line in conjunction with use of the invention, the patents to Semple, Dennison, '370 to Steck III, and Broberg, and the Orvis EZ Knot Tool device require joining, threading, winding or wrapping the lines manually to tie the knot. The patents to Semple, Wardall, Dennison and Broberg and the Orvis EZ Knot Tool device require the user to hold the tag ends of the fishing lines for the performance of the knot-tying function, which is not required by the present invention.
Other related art devices provide information about knot-tying, as examples: U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,797 to Ragland, Jr., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,173 to Rosser, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,826 to Slivinski possess functions and elements of jigs or braiding mechanisms and, as with the cited devices on the market, have no line-divider element such as the swivel disc in the present invention, for tying blood knots. The patents to Broberg and '370 to Steck III lack this basic function of providing a device for tying blood knots to tie leader lines, as well. The devices of the patents to Semple, Macy, Dennison, Wardall, Spencer, and '369 Steck III, and the Tru-Blood Knot Tyer™ device provide the features of pins, posts, fingers or spaced legs to facilitate the line-dividing mechanism to provide the crossing diagonal relationship of the separate leader lines necessary to the rotating function. Only the device of the present invention provides the swivel disc mechanism for crossed placement of the leader lines.
Although these related art patented inventions provide features for knot-tying devices, and all except the patents to Rosser, Ragland, '370 to Steck III and Broberg, function to create barrel, blood, or allied knots for tying leader lines, none including these four provide the combination of the rectangular card swivel-disc in one movable part to entrain the leader tag ends and, to divide and rotate the leader lines to create the leader knot, as found in the knot-tying device of the present invention.
Still further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing descriptions and drawings.